Ratings: Bruins-Blackhawks Triple-OT Face-Off Is Most Watched Stanley Cup Game 1 in 16 Years

NBC’s broadcast of the ChicagoBlackhawks‘ triple-overtime win against the BostonBruins on Wednesday night averaged 6.4 million total viewers across its five-hour run, making it the most watched Stanley Cup Game 1 match-up in 16 years, falling just 9,000 viewers shy of the all-time record-holding Detroit-Philadelphia face-off of 1997.

Everytime almost everyone says that a team will win they do horrible. The Penguins last round, the Giants and Pats every time they play. Last year the Red Sox were supposed to win 100 games and the World Series, last 90+ games and had the worst season in 50 years.

Read any editorials online, EVERY ONE OF THEM, said the Bruins in 6-7. Not a single one think the Hawks will win, that’s out of the 10-12 I have read, and all of them were national and not from Boston.

Chicago had a better season, sorry. Not the underdog. Boston is just slightly hotter right now, but the ratings are partially telling you how good a contest this one is. People are into it. Of course, the ratings have a lot to do with the Cup Final taking place later in the year, too, thanks to the shortened season. Bit of a difference a near-summer final makes, now that most shows are finished for the summer.

We’re those ratings counting online streaming, cuz I totally was, and did I hear correctly that the next game will be on NBCSports? If so, why, what would NBC have to air on its flagship network that could possibly take priority?